PART 1: Freshman Year

a)   

b)There was this guy in my class, Devante, always got along with him. One day we got into this fight in class over a discussion of if taking matters into your own hands, enacting real justice or letting the police keep him in jail. I told them about a story of witnessing my father beat my mother and they all shut up. I was never looked at in the same way in AC. Guess they thought I was a little too fucked up compared to them.

c) The same friend, Devante, told me one day after I had got into a fight with some stupid ass in my class. He told me that if you know things aren’t true, then you shouldn’t get mad over it. I remember it so well because its something that stuck with me. My patience was terrible in freshman year, he helped me calm it down to what it is today. Back in the day, if I had Tomer in my class that year, I might’ve killed him.

d) I would’ve never got back with my ex that year… That bitch caused way too much drama for any sane person to deal with…

 e)

f) Fuck all the bullshit

 PART 2: Sophomore Year

a)   

b) That I actually kinda knew the school now and knew hella more people. The fact that in all of my classes I knew at least one person. It was also a bad time for me basically that whole year, bad interactions, bad decisions, bad family. The biggest difference for me was that going to school was fun because it got me away from home.

c) The biggest part of my sophomore year was when my mother had told me she had cancer, then I had to go take an english final. During the rest of that year I stopped coming to school  due to depression and having to take care of my mom. One random day I decided to come back to school and was talking with my friend Sarah. It was funny because she actually seemed like she might’ve cared, until my other friend from the same class told me she was talking shit about me the very next day. This year made me remember why I don’t trust people.

d) I remember learning how much you matter to the people around you, even though you don’t realize it until its too  late.

e)  During that year I had started tapping back into writing. During that year I wrote a short story that I still have to this day. I still consider it one of my best writings ever, but never let anyone ever see it because I found it too personal. This story is what I based my poem Children on.

f)  

g) Try to look past the darkness, there’s light out there somewhere

 PART 3: Junior Year

a)   

b) This was when my senioritus kicked in. It was hard enough getting to school as it was, but since I was new to AHA and really only knew like 2 people it was hard to get to know everyone else and be accepted into the AHA community.

c)  I think when my brother finally came out that year and graduating from UCLA, it was crazy because in that exact same week his boyfriend beat him up and we had to deal with that issue through the whole year. That was probably the worst thing about last year.

d) The biggest surprise was  actually opening up to people that year, because I’d never done that before except for like to my closest friends, and even that was a rarity. I guess it was more weird to me because after I opened up to people they treated me different, nicer. It was a big suprize.

e) I learned that you can’t give up on everyone just because a select few decide to live as assholes, doesn’t mean that everyone is. That when you have the patience to help people, and that true friends will always stick with you, even if it is a bad decision.

f) For deciding to actually try poetry out, and writing my best poem Children. I wrote that poem while I was starting to lose my hope in people and how the world was behind the veil. That poem made me realize that you really can do great things when provided with motivation and the right mood.

g)   

h) My motto was Live Free last year, it was what kept me going really. I still hated school and half of my teachers, but I would just listen to my music, and get on with my life, trying to through the day without getting pissed off or skipping. Even though one or the other would usually happen anyway, keeping that thought in my head made things more bareible.

 PART 4: Senior Year

a)   

b) The best thing about this year was that I got to be with all the people I liked and still had some freedom in the long run, which hadn’t happened before because I had fucked up all the years before.. But I think being able to really be myself this year was the best thing to me.

c) Think before you act because I know how you don’t give a fuck about anything, and you should. Not everything is set in stone dude, you can change something if you put your mind to it, you just gotta keep your faith man, it’s what pushes you forward. Remember that little nigga

d)   The most major news to me was finding out that one of my bestfriends had died this year during christmas. I hadn’t been around her too much this year so it was really sad to me because i never got to say goodbye, it made me realise how unexpected everything really is, why you have to enjoy life as it is.

e)   Senior Skip Day by Mac Miller was my song this entire year, it will always remind me of all the fun times this year, all the friendships I made, the people I’ve grown close to. I think the saddest thing about this song is that I always wanted to do a AHA senior skip day and chill with everyone, but nobody ever really planned it out because not everybody would agree on a single day.

f) I think that everything I learned this year will help me in the future, personally I learned that I can overcome anything, academically I learned I could actually do good in school if I was interested in the subject, artistically I learned that I am a great artist even though before I didn’t believe I was artistic at all because I couldn’t draw, all I could do was write. Professionally I learned how to deal with responsibility and how to professional when a situation comes up and how to deal with it.

g) I’m proud of being able to deal with life, because it seems as if I can never catch a break. I really did like being able to deal with all the family drama that constantly come up and still have the patience to call my family a family. I’m proud with keeping my composure  and not going crazy all the times I wanted to.

h)   

i) Enjoy your life will be my motto for the rest of my life, because I’ve lived at the bottom and I’ve lived life like it was horrible, but it didn’t make me any more happy. So I decided to say fuck it and enjoy all of the little things that went right, and ignore all the other things that went wrong, because if you’re not enjoying your life, you truly aren’t living anymore.

https://twitter.com/@MumbleMcKidd

1. What are your thoughts on the President’s take on the loan situation and the interest issue?

I kinda think hes doin it to get more college students to vote for him honestly, but i also think its pretty cool that he did it… even though its only for stanfod students.

2. What are your thoughts on this forum for the information? Does Obama seem more or less credible and why? 

 I think if he would have sung he would’ve been more credible/liked, but how they delivered the information was interesting and was probably a good idea who get bored with regular news.

3. In terms of what we know about the issues surrounding student loans and college costs, what do you think is the best solution? Some people have suggested programs that forgive college cost depending on the subsequent work graduates do, some people have said that college should be free and paid for out of wages earned from jobs attained based on the students’ degrees, and there have been many more ideas… What are yours?

I think that fogiving the colllege debt is the best solution, but can be benificial towards only certain degrees which is shitty, but is still the best idea i think. I think they should change it toward all degrees and the ones the deem “unworthy” of forgiveness should still give forgiveness, just make the timing period more far off then the others. EX: doctor= after 15 years is forgiven. philosophy= after 20.

1.The FED is the bank for banks pretty much

2.It was created on december 23rd, 1913. It was made because too many people tried to take their money from the banks and banks ran out of money.

3.The FED has 12 regional banks in major cities thoughout the U.S.

4.The FED’s purpose is to establish the relative value of the U.S. currency.

5. The main criticism of the FED is when they bailed out all of those banks with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including other industries such as General Motors.

6.

:)

1.

“Well, $500,000 a Year Might Sound Like a Lot, but I’m Hardly Rich.”
2.”It’s gotten to where I can barely afford my daily cigar rolled in the tanned flesh of a forsaken child.”
3.”Come on, we’re all in this together! It’s not like I have infinite money.”

4.They should know they sound hella fuckin ignorant, I mean I live off a $15,000 salary for a family of four. But yeah, if we did have that money my mom probably wouldn’t so fucked from workin retail and we could have a vacation for the first time ever. Just sayin, if they think about it every 2 years they’re millioniares, I think half of a millioniare is still rich as fuck.

5.

1.”Hey, I Worked Hard to Get What I Have!”
2.“I became a self-made millionaire by the age of 30 by working grueling hours, being relentless and risking my own money. My success was earned with blood, sweat and tears.” -He didn’t say they were his though…

3.”I’m not Paris Hilton! I work 70-hour weeks to make this salary!”

4.If they worked so hard to get what they’ve got, then what about everyone else in the world? If that’s true, then wouldn’t nurses and teachers get paid more? wouldn’t labor workers be getting paid the most then?

5.

1.”If I Can Do It, So Can You!”
2.“We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have-nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves.”

3.

.”This is the land of opportunity, where anyone can make it! Instead of complaining, just go out there and get rich!”

4.This reminds me of my bestfriend in elementery school, he lived in a 3 story house in the albany hills. he used to tell me, “I’m not rich. My parents just have a good job so we get a big house. Its just like your house, but with a upstairs and downstairs and balcany. I bet if my parents can do it your mom can too!” Later that day i asked my mom why we didnt have money and she blamed my father. What I really miss most about bein a kid is that you don’t really care about money as long as your happy. If only it was that simple.

5.

1.”You’re Just Jealous Because I Made It and You Didn’t!

2.”That’s Mr.Batman to you.”

3.”It’s wrong to tear down others instead of improving your own life!”

4. I think we are jealous, who the fuck wouldn’t be? we wish we had a easier life cushioned by money, that we wouldn’t be drowning in debt from college, and had our parents taking care of us all our lives. Im not gonna speak for everyone, but I know Im envious of what they have.

5.

1.

“You Shouldn’t Be Punishing the Very People Who Make This Country Work!”
2.“I never got a job from a poor person.”

3.

“If you punish success, society will collapse into communism!”
4. I find it very ironic that they say that we shouldn’t be punishing the people who make this country work yet thats exactly what they’re doing. They don’t make the country work, they just make the rules that we’re obligated to follow. But what they’re saying is that its wrong to make the the company owner pay but its ok to make the company workers pay. fuck that shit.

5.

1.”Stop Asking for Handouts! I Never Got Help from Anybody!”
2.“I expect nothing to be handed to me, and will continue to work my @$$ off for everything I have. I am NOT the 99 percent, and whether or not you are is YOUR decision.”
3.”I pulled myself up by my bootstraps!”
4.This hella reminds me of my father. he used to say bullshit like that all the time when we asked him for money for food or rent or bills. he left my mother with 3 kids to take care of by herself while he lived off of his parents and girlfriend AND his own money, hypocrite. my mom worked retail, he had the luxury of goin back to college to get a job that pays a $300,000 yearly income, and now my mom is disabled. Its not like we wanted his help, its that we needed it. Sometimes you need help.

5.

1.My first thoughts are that you  shouldn’t sign up and use something that you don’t know the conciquences. They might as well have got student loans instead of paying for a credit card. I don’t have any credit cards, and I don’t really want any unless I absolutely need to have one to live. I hate credit cards.

2. a) That 90% of college students have credit card debt, I knew that the number  would be high, but I didn’t know that damn near all of college students have debt, that sucks. They’re just starting their lives and they’re already swimming in debt.

b) People with buisness majors don’t know about credit card debt. #1, if your a buisness major and don’t know how to manage your credit card debt or even what it is, you should feel stupid. Your going into buisness, and I’m sure that you have at least one credit card, its a disgrace that you don’t keep up on your shit. Like wow.

c) Only 9.4% of credit card carrying college students paid off their debt. This just sucks, and is sad. If they don’t start paying it off fast, that debt is just gonna keep gaining interest until you owe them your house and your testicles.

3. I think that young people need to know more about credit card incomes and debts, and to be more conscious of their use of the credit cards and the debt they’re cllecting along the way.

4.Younger students who use credit cards are more careless with the use of their cards than older, more experienced, and married students. It stood out to me the most because I think its definitly true, people just use cards because they think they have no consiquence, like its free money. I don’t think simply being older is particularly true, but being more experienced with the cards and being married would be more of a help because of the type of things you may have paid or need to understand because of your position.

I don’t think we need pennies anymore, how many people do you know that actually save pennies? But  I think we still need nickles, we just need to find a cheaper way to make these things. In what world does it make sense that a penny costs 6 or 7 cents?? Apperently our world, expecially in America. As for our currency, I would say we could do what Australia is doing and make money plastic, but how would that fit in our wallets? I’d say keep the paper currency, but change the coin currency, Make our coins plastic. sounds like a good plan to me.

ahagovandmoney:

“…the income of the very rich, the top 100th of 1 percent of the income distribution, rose by 480 percent. No, that isn’t a misprint. In 2005 dollars, the average annual income of that group rose from $4.2 million to $24.3 million.”

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody,” she declared, pointing out that the rich can only get rich thanks to the “social contract” that provides a decent, functioning society in which they can prosper.

*props to Mr. Becker for bringing this column to my attention!

Arctic monkeys - Perhaps vampire is a bit strong but… with lyrics (by baxter7561

)

Yesterday America was Incomplete

Today America is Ignorant

Tomorrow America will be Civilized